2015年11月26日星期四

Where did all the time go? One moment I am the struggling new mother who was trying to balance everything, and try to stop worrying; another moment now, I realized it's the end of November, and I have not blogged a single entry for more than a month!

A month, is exactly how long I have been with my mom. Two weeks for having her here in Singapore with us, so that I can help out The Man at the clinic when he needed help. Another two weeks for the baby to go back to hometown. It's not easy to set up a new clinic, but I'm glad he finally did what he always wanted.

The work to be done before the clinic opens was tremendous. I know nothing in dentistry, all I could help is to build a simple website for his clinic, and also a business page in Facebook. It didn't sound much, but for someone who knows nothing about coding and website, it almost killed me. I worked pass midnight for days in a row just to get one small item done. I watched tonnes and tonnes of Youtube tutorial (All Hail Youtube!), I got help from my Bestie and her husband! Thank goodness, I wouldn't have completed the page without them!

Now that things got settled a little more, it's time for me to start cooking, taking photos, trying to learn art all over again.

Butter garlic chicken aglio olio

Simple and delicious

I cook aglio olio a lot because it's simple and delicious, suits the lazy me. I like my food to be simple most of the time. So I always only add one ingredient for my aglio olio, chicken, mushrooms, bacon are the most common ingredients I add. (No more bacon for me after the terrible news for bacon lover!) Most importantly, A LOT OF HERBS AND SEASONING! Never get stingy with that!

With the new packet of deep fried garlic that my mom got me, and the truffle oil from Antwerp, my aglio olio got even better, at least to me.

Ingredients:

Garlic (as much as you like! The more the better!)

Chicken or mushrooms or shrimps (If you're cooking with chicken, marinate them with salt, pepper and herbs)

Pasta of your choice, I personally prefer spaghetti or angel hair

Salt

Pepper

Mixed herbs

Red peppercorn

Dried chili

Deep fried garlic

Truffle oil

Parmesan Cheese

Method:

Cook the pasta to al Dante

While the pasta is cooking, pan fry the ingredients of your choice (with butter, no other than that if you want your aglio olio to taste good)

Toss in the chopped garlic when the meat/seafood/mushrooms are almost cooked

2015年10月14日星期三

Both The Man and I had creamy tomyam spaghetti in different restaurants before, and we both kinda like it. Then one day, we were dining out at a food court, The Man ordered one and that very last one wasn't good at all.

So, I decided to try. But seriously, I've never cooked one before. I gathered what I needed to buy and went to the market, to the familiar stalls. I asked the uncle if he has tomyam ingredients, he pointed to me. And asked me how much I needed. Damn, I was totally clueless! I told him, I do not know. Uncle almost fainted. But he's being nice, he asked me how many people are eating and roughly gauge the amount for me. So nice of him!

Then, I went home. And called my mom! Lol!

My mom said she had never cooked a tomyam spaghetti before, so she has no idea. She never eaten any too. But she gave me instructions to tomyam. So I just add coconut milk as I like to make it creamy.

Creamy chicken tomyam spaghetti

Ingredients:

2-3 kaffir lime leaves

3-5 slices of galangal

3-5 stalks of lemongrass stalks

3 shallots

1 tomato

Mushrooms, quantity of your liking

10 Prawns for the two of us or chicken fillet (the next day when I made the second attempt, I used chicken fillet instead of prawns)

5 tbsp of coconut milk for one serving (add one at a time, to gauge what's the creamy level that you like for your pasta)

Store bought tomyam paste

Chilli if you like extra hot

Lime if you like it sour (as coconut milk will make it less sour)

Method:

Prepare kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemongrass, shallots and tomato to boil in water for 10-15 minutes.

Then, add in the tomyam paste (amount based on instructions of the tomyam paste you buy), for me I added 3 tbsp.

Add mushrooms and boil the soup for a good 10-15 minutes.

(I cooked the tomyam way ahead before I cooked the pasta so I actually stopped here before I continue. But in case you do these all at once, you can cook your spaghetti at the same time to al Dante.)

Scoop the tomyam to separate pan. Boil the tomyam, add prawns to cook for a few minutes.

Add coconut milk one tbsp at a time to reach the correct creamy level that you like. Add chili if you like.

Stir in the spaghetti.

Dress with coriander.

Serve.

Cut a lime to serve alongside if you'd like it sour.

The first attempt was good but it's not creamy enough. We didn't even take photos, the whole dinner happened in a rush. It was good but not great.

I made more tomyam than I needed so I have one serving left for my lunch. I reattempt the dish and walaaaa~ It's finally creamy enough. But sadly, I forgot the coriander yet again. But it's good :)

Anyway, do not cook the tomyam with just the tomyam paste, it won't be fragrant enough.

I have lots of ingredients left in the fridge, my mom instructed me to keep them in freezer, they'll last. I vomitted last weekend, so, I guess no tomyam for this week. Stomach needs to rest.

2015年10月6日星期二

The Man has been very busy, going to bed by 1am has become a luxury. Mornings are usually in a rush, no time for breakfast. Sometimes, all he had for the mornings is a cup of Milo. That will last him until lunch.

I hate skipping breakfast. I tried to wake up for his breakfast, but I didn't manage recently. Lazy, plus I also go to bed as late as he does. I just couldn't. I always wonder how he manages to sleep only a few hours a day.

I have Pinterest on my mobile. I like Pinterest because I can always find something interesting. Even though I might not try any of them, but I always keep them in folders. Just in case. I've came across this simple granola bars recipe on Pinterest. And hence decided to give it a try so that this granola bars can serve as his breakfast when he's in the rush. Or maybe energy bars in his bag during his busy days.

So last night, after I put baby into bed, I started my midnight baking. It's pretty simple so it didn't take a long time.

First trial on granola bars

Take a close look, they actually look like shit

First trial, I'll give them a 8/10. They look like shit but they taste good. I love the peanuts and peanut butter, so fragrant. Especially right after baking them, my kitchen smells so good!! I felt that I could eat my kitchen!

I think I could make improvement on the moisture of the bars. Probably I should add a little bit more honey next time, to make it more gooey. Besides, I should really make them flatter, nobody had their granola looks as shit as mine! And maybe, I will try baking them shorter than 25 minutes. And also try the non bake method too!

2015年7月21日星期二

I've recently received my first Lego Star Wars set, in fact my first ever Lego set in my life. It's one of my farewell gift from my thoughtful colleagues. It was great, I love my Imperial Star Destroyer!

Dum dum dum dum da dum dum da dum!

Clear Instructions
According to the Brickpedia, this particular set has 1,359 pieces. I thought it will take me forever to complete this 16x53cm spaceship, but I was wrong, turned out, it wasn't that difficult actually. Thanks to the detailed instructions! Even instructions idiot like me get to do it at ease.

The bricks were divided into 10 packets. Each packet numbered, 1-10, so that the users could start building from packet no.1. This makes the whole experience really pleasant because imagine they're going to give you 1,359 pieces of grey bricks! It's just nightmare to be!

Besides, the instructions are as clear as it can be. Each and every step is clearly shown in pictures. Even the spaceship is in a perfect symmetry, they do not go by "Please repeat these steps in mirror image". With the number of bricks involved, mirror image can be confusing. Therefore, there are total 3 instruction manuals for one spaceship.

Good QC
If you ever work in manufacturing, you'll learn to appreciate Lego even more. Every brick is precisely made so that they can fit into each other. If the QC wasn't tight enough, you can imagine having bricks too loose that can't hold on together; or bricks too tight that can't fit in at all! It'll just ruin everything.

Besides, do take a close look of your Lego if you have. Colours of your bricks are even, no patches. Aesthetically, perfect! How great is that!

Great Details for the Geeks
All the very cool details are taken care of. The top of the spaceship can be removed and opened to reveal the internal of the spaceship.

Synchronised cannons and spring loaded shooter (hazard)

Control panels

Rotating Emperor Palpatine halogram

Cool screen

Rear view of the spaceship

Extra "bullets" can be stored at the rear of the ship

Darth Vader on his rotating chair

Imperial Officer on his rotating chair

Imperial Navy Trooper with Stormtrooper

Imperial Crew with Stormtrooper

I find your lack of faith disturbing *Throat Choking*

All the mini figurines in the set

Now that I've completed it, and really loving it, I need to find a place for it. Somewhere not reachable by my son when he's mobile. Now I love Lego Star Wars so much, I feel like buying myself my favourite Millennium Falcon :)

By the way, I used one of my farewell gift (50mm 1.8G Nikkor lens) to take all the detailed pictures of my Imperial Star Destroyer.

I just love it! It makes waiting for Star Wars Episode VII even better!

2015年7月13日星期一

I've been waiting to take this photo for a long time, finally it's 40 weeks and 3 days on 10th July 2015.

I was wearing the exact same top and bottom, it's scary to see how huge I became when I was pregnant! 40 weeks and 3 days was 2 days before baby was born, it's one day before I was admitted to hospital to induce for labour. What a horror...

Anyway, it's all over now, the super heavy tummy grow up to be a heavy baby :)

2015年7月11日星期六

It was my belated farewell lunch with my colleagues in HP yesterday. It was like any other lunches we had, laughters, rubbish talks, teasing each other. But something different though, my son became the highlight of the lunch nowadays, stealing everybody's attention and got carried around the table, that makes him very happy. Can't sleep when he got home.

It's been quite a journey. I joined HP Failure Analysis team on 11th June 2007. My official last day was 2nd of June 2015. On the paper, I clocked 8 years working in the same environment, (sounded so sad but it's not, really). But technically, I've only clocked 7.5 years because I took 6 months off to take care of baby. And then, I took a step further, I left.

7.5 years is a long time.

They've seen me long curly hair, short curly hair, long straight hair, short straight hair, and long straight hair again.

They've seen me without braces, with braces, and took off the braces with nice tidy teeth.

They've seen me happily single (but not available) traveling around the world with sister every year, happily married and still traveling around the world, and got pregnant and still traveling!!!, and finally, the "balloon" popped, and I am still traveling!

7.5 years, we've seen people come and go. Some joined us as short as a few months. Some for a year and longer. But there were a few of us who stayed together long enough (we've got no choice but to stick together) to become very closed friends. These are the people I can't let go off. These are the people who make me think twice before I started writing my resignation letter. These are the people, I swear I want to keep in touch with. These are the people, I call them friends rather than just colleagues.

I felt so loved all these years with them. My bestie and I have difficulties eating crabs and prawns (actually she has difficulties because of her allergy, I am just plainly lazy. I've been pampered at home, and I'm also pampered at work!), our "English teacher" would peel for us. The "English teacher" also peels oranges for me. Some other guys would carry watermelons back from the supermarket nearby to office, and cut for us for tea breaks.

My lab friends would keep some cup noodles for me in their drawers so that I got something to eat when I'm hungry. Because everybody knows, I am ALWAYS HUNGRY! They would keep any unattended items in their drawers for me, because I'm the No.1 forgetful in the team, and whatever left behind, they always assume they belong to me. Hahaha... Well, 80% of the time, it's true.

And my boss, she'd seen the worst of me. Couldn't handle my emotion properly and opposing her on things that she asked me to do etc. Bad engineer... But as I grow, I started to understand her position, and I realized she's such an understanding boss, especially when it comes to work-life balance, and health of her team. I started to see nobody is perfect, I am a lousy engineer so why should I expect so much from everybody else. I should do my part first. I appreciate her more, and we became closer and we could even pull prank on her! Such fun :)

If I were to write everything about them, I'll needs days to do so. So I'm not gonna do that. I'm sure to whom it may concern, they know how I feel :)